Stone Commotion
by staryu
Summary: Usagi decided to give the Senshi another chance at happiness by giving them the Shittenou stones. Usagi being Usagi, trouble and mayhem ensue. SenshiShittenou, Usagi/Mamoru
1. Chapter 1

"Hi girls!" Usagi greeted the four Inner Senshi as they made their way to her.

"Alright, Usagi, 'fess up. What's this "urgent business" that you were talking about over the phone?" Rei asked abruptly, as soon as she reached the blond's side.

"Hello to you too, Rei. It's nice seeing you again," Usagi said primly, refusing to be cowed by the brunette.

"Well, she's got a point, Usagi. What's this important business you were talking about? I had to cancel a conference I've already scheduled months ago." Ami said, her tone as impatient as Rei's. Everyone looked at her in surprise. Ami was not the type to be impatient. Still, given that the conference only invited the top students of Japan, she felt that it was more than her due.

"Er, heehee. Can't we at least order first?" Usagi said, laughing nervously. The other four didn't react, merely stared at her. "Okay, fine, fine! Just... Sit down, will you?" Minako, Rei, Makoto, and Ami gingerly took seats around Usagi, but their eyes never left her. "Okay, here we go..." Usagi took a deep breath and blurted, "ItookthestonesfromMamoru."

Minako blinked. "Come again?"

"The stones... I took the stones from Mamoru!"

"What stones?" Makoto asked, her puzzled look reflecting the expressions on her friends' faces.

"The Shitennou!" Usagi practically yelled in exasperation, bouncing off her chair. When she saw the other people looking at her curiously, she sat down again, her face as red as an apple. She took a deep breath and began again. "Look. I took the Shitennou stones. For you."

The four looked at each other, and then began talking at the same time.

"You odango-head! Why did you that?"

"Usagi, are you insane?"

"Does Mamoru know of this?"

"How the heck did you get them?"

"Calm down!" Usagi hissed, pulling all four of them back to their seats. More heads swiveled in their direction, and Usagi waved at them nervously until they went back to their respective businesses. "Mamoru's gone for a few days for some business or something. Look, you guys have been unhappy and moping and..."

"We're not unhappy!"

"We're not moping!"

"Quiet!" Usagi hissed again, and the four subsided, glaring at her. "Look, you guys. Just... Give this a chance, won't you?"

"Yeah, give them a chance to killing us again," Makoto muttered.

"Oh come on, girls, you know they've changed. I mean, Mamoru turns to them for advice, and they haven't hurt him. He says that they've really gone back to the way they were back in the Silver Millennium. You know, the guys you know," she added, turning to each of them. The four, however, refused to look at her, staring at anything and everything around them but at the clear blue orbs. "Please? I just want you to be as happy as I am." Usagi pleaded.

The four melted. It was hard to resist Usagi whenever she was like this. However, Ami, Makoto, and Rei unconsciously turned to Minako, who sighed loudly, and said, "Might as well," but her tone said her consent was more than grudgingly given.

Usagi, however, didn't give them a chance to complain again. Squealing lightly, she went to each of the girls and hugged them. "You girls won't regret this, I promise!"

"I already am," Rei muttered, which Usagi pointedly ignored. Pulling four small velvet pouches from her bag, she gave one to each of the girls.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Makoto asked, gingerly holding her pouch.

"Urm, I think you're just supposed to touch it, and then they will probably come out of it or something."

Ami's eyebrows rose. "I'm hearing a lot of 'maybes' there, Usagi. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course! Now, Mamoru won't be back until after three days. That would be enough time, I think. You have to promise to at least try to talk to them, okay?" Hearing muttered grumbling, she pressed, "Okay?"

"Fine." The four grumpily agreed, and then proceeded to leave one after the other in different directions, holding the pouches in front of them as though they were vipers.

xxx

_Might as well get this over with. _

_Okay, here we go. _

_Here goes nothing. _

_If I know Usagi, she probably gave us the wrong stones. No, she can't be that scatterbrained. _

In their separate rooms that night, each girl slid the stone from the pouch, holding the smooth object in their hands. Almost immediately, a bright glow surrounded it. Swallowing loudly, they stared at the forms emerging from the stones until_... _

"AAAH!"


	2. Chapter 2

"You!"

"I could say the same thing! Ami, I know I'm hot and all, but my heart belongs to Rei, and I don't think Zoi will react well if he finds out you have a thing for me," Jadeite drawled.

"You weren't the one I was trying to summon!" Ami all but shrieked. "It was Zoicite who…" At this, the blue-haired girl blushed.

If possible, Jadeite's grin turned even wider. "Oho! So you _are _trying to make moves on Zoi! Way to go, Ami!" he cheered.

Ami threw her hands to cover her face. In a muffled voice, she muttered, "I don't know why Rei still hasn't burned you to a crisp."

Unfortunately, Jadeite caught every word. "It's because I'm so lovable," he said, grinning. "So what's the deal? Are you planning to confess your mad love for him and get…" Jadeite stopped speaking when Ami suddenly burst into tears. "Oh, come on! He can't be _that _bad!"

"He's not!" Ami bawled. "He's just so nice, and sweet, and, well… Everything that you're not, and…"

"Thanks a lot", Jadeite muttered, but Ami took no notice. Instead, she kept on crying and talking at the same time.

"And he's so smart and he's so brilliant… And… And… And I don't know if he still loves me!" Ami finished, wailing.

"Er, you do realize that we don't have that much of a social life in these stones, right? So he can't have met anyone."

At this, Ami cried even harder. "That's not the point! He could have met someone even before you turned into stones!"

Jadeite patted her gingerly on the shoulder. "Come on, Ami. Don't think like that. Zoi thinks really well of you."

Ami raised her head and turned red-rimmed eyes to Jadeite. "Really? He said that?"

Jadeite nodded, anxious to keep her from bawling again. "Yeah, he said that you were the only one who understood that molecular particle thingy or something…"

At this, Ami squealed. "He said that? Really? Then he does love me! Thanks, Jadeite! You can go back to the stone now!"

"What? Did I say something good? I don't really know what you MEEAAAA…."


	3. Chapter 3

"You!"

_That odango-head! She did mix up the stones!_

"I could say the same thing!" Nephrite asked, his eyes blinking owlishly at Rei. "I was expecting Makoto!"

"Yeah, well, I was expecting Jadeite and... Wait a minute! What do you mean you were expecting Makoto?!" Rei practically shrieked.

"Yes, well..." Nephrite shrugged. "The princess kinda told us you would summon us! You..."

_That odango-head! She actually told them we'd summon them!_ Rei slapped her forehead at the thought.

"... I was expecting my thunder goddess, but not you!"

"Didn't see you in the stars, did you?" Rei asked him sarcastically, poking fun at Nephrite's tendency to consult the constellations for answers.

"Hello? I was in a stone. It's not like I could the sky from there," Nephrite asked sarcastically. "How come you didn't consult the fires?" It was his turn to tweak Rei's nose, and tweak he did. Rei's eyes narrowed and her cheeks reddened. No one, and she meant no one, had any right to mess with her fire readings. "You... You... You!" Rei shrieked, her voice rising several decibels.

"Jadeite was right. You do have a temper!"

"I do not have a..." Rei started screaming, and then her eyes narrowed even more. "Jadeite said that?" Her voice was almost a whisper.

Nephrite gulped. He knew what that look meant, and if he didn't talk fast, either he or his friend would end up being fried to a crisp. "Well, you know Jadeite. He always talks about a lot of stuff. Heh."

"Like what?" If possible, Rei's voice was even more menacing.

"Well, you know. Rei this, Rei that. Mars said this, Mars told me that. All he talked about was you! By the end of the day, we were practically sick of hearing your name," Nephrite was literally babbling, not really caring what he said, as he looked in fear of Rei's clenched fists. He had been hit by her back in the Silver Millennium, and he swore the mark of her palm was still there. "We knew what your favorites were, color, food, flower. Heck, he even told us about the time when you were training and there was this tree in front of you, but you were so busy talking with him that you didn't see and..."

"He said what?!"

"Er, heh?"

"JADEITE TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT?!"

"Well, he might have mentioned something about you and a close encounter with an oak tree in the garden," Nephrite said feebly, edging closer to the table where his stone was. True enough, Rei shrieked, and he narrowly escaped being extra crispy by hiding in his stone. Even so, the smell of burnt hair floated in the air.


	4. Chapter 4

"Put some clothes on, man!" Makoto shrieked, throwing her hands to her face to cover her face, her cheeks flaming.

A wave of his hand, and Kunzite was once again attired in his uniform from the Silver Millennium. "Sorry, sorry! I didn't expect to be summoned while I was taking a shower and..."

"You have a shower in that thing?" Makoto screamed.

Kunzite quirked a silver eyebrow. "Of course. How do you think we'd survive in there if we didn't have amenities? And for the love of Terra, woman! Stop shrieking! I can hear you perfectly fine! Minako wouldn't have..."

"Yeah, well, I'm not Minako!" Makoto shrieked again.

Kunzite winced at the shrill voice. "Yes, I can perfectly see that you're not. The question is, why?"

"Why what?" Makoto huffed out. Her voice had lowered shrill decibels, but her facial expression showed that she is still perfectly capable of going off any second.

"Why aren't you Venus?"

"Why aren't you Nephrite?" Makoto countered. Realization struck, and she slapped her forehead.

Kunzite came to the same realization. "Don't tell me... The princess...?" He knew perfectly well what Usagi was capable of, even eons after the Silver Millennium..

Makoto nodded grimly. _Usagi! I'm going to kill her! _

"So what do you propose we do?" Kunzite asked, his voice hesitant.

"We could spar," Makoto suggested.

"Uh, no," Kunzite said hurriedly. He winced at the last time he sparred in hand-to-hand combat with Jupiter. He would have made a rainbow proud by the time she was through with him. No way he was going through the same torture again.

"Then what?"

Kunzite thought hurriedly. Makoto ran a close second to Rei when it came to short tempers, and if he didn't come up with an idea, he might still be covered in a multitude of bruises. "Uh, arm wrestling?"

"Arm wrestling? Yay!"

xoxoxo

"C'mon, Kunzi, you can do better than that?" Makoto chortled, as she beat the glorious leader of the Shitennou for the 37th time that night.

"Give me a break, Makoto. It's not like I haven't been imprisoned in a darn stone for how long," Kunzite groaned out, supporting an arm.

Makoto gave him a superior look. "Well, if Nephrite was here, he would have once or twice."

"Bully for Nephrite," Kunzite muttered, but Makoto didn't hear, as she was too busy singing Nephrite's praises.

"You know, I think he's the only one who could have matched me blow by blow. And to think I thought him a nerd, since he's always looking at the stars and stuff. Imagine when he was able to take me down on our sparring session! Plus," and Makoto giggled dreamily, "he's way better than my ex-boyfriend. Now _he_ wouldn't have beaten me even once at arm wrestling, and all he wanted to do was eat my cookies. Neph knew how to handle a woman and..."

"Looks like Nephrite got beaten by you over the head a little too much," Kunzite muttered again.

This time, Makoto did hear. "What did you say?"

"I'm just saying! I'm just wondering why Nephrite would choose a girl who could beat him up!"

"You're just jealous because I beat you back in the Silver Millennium! Hah! And I beat you again now! What do you have to say to that?"

"That Nephrite's insane to go with a crazy girl who could ground him to a pulp!"

"How dare you?"

Kunzite was prepared for her to go and attack him for insulting her. Instead, he was surprised at her next words.

"You have no right to insult Nephrite! That right only belongs to me!" Makoto emphasized each word with a resounding slap.

"Ow! Ow! I give, I give!"

"You hear that? You will not insult Neph!" And picking Kunzite bodily, she threw him back to his stone.


	5. Chapter 5

"But... But... You're Zoicite!" Minako sputtered.

Zoicite rolled his eyes. "Obviously."

"How did... I mean why... You're not..."

"Yes, I'm well-aware I'm not Kunzite."

"But... But... How did..."

"No, I'm not a mind-reader."

"But you..."

"No, I'm not."

"Then how did...?"

"Simple. Serenity probably messed up the stones. With all due respect to my prince, but his princess is a little flighty."

"Flighty?! How dare..."

"Yes, I dare. You can't say it's not true, right."

A few seconds' silence, and then, "Still! That doesn't mean..."

"Yes, it means exactly what it means."

"Are you..."

"Yes, I'm sure I'm not a mind-reader!"

"Ugh! How could you be so..."

"Hm. It's just the way I am."

"Why does A..."

"Yes, Ami loves me, and I love her. Same as the way you love Kunzite and he loves you."

"Ugh! I'm done!"


	6. Chapter 6

"This is all your fault!" Makoto snarled at Usagi.

"I said I was sorry," cried the pigtailed girl, her tone a little defensive. "It's not like I wanted to mix up the stones on purpose," she muttered.

Ami slapped her forehead. "Okay, it doesn't matter. Can we just finish this, please?" she asked, her tone weary. Dark circles were under her eyes, as well as the other girls', evidence of the fiasco that happened the night before.

As soon as there was light, the girls had frantically called each other about what happened. A conference call was all it took to have them marching to Usagi and Mamoru's home. Ami and Minako had to restrain Rei and Makoto from going after Usagi's throat, and even then, the sky had darkened and ominous rumblings proved that the normally cheery senshi of Jupiter was more than a little teed off. By unanimous decision, they had decided to return the stones to Usagi (Rei was in favor of shoving it down her throat). However, the princess pleaded for them to give it another chance, why is why the Senshi found themselves at the third floor of the Chiba residence. They reasoned that they would summon the Shitennou together, to prevent any more mix-ups, and the room upstairs was big enough to hold whatever it is that would happen. Or so they thought.

"Why are we doing this again?" Rei grumbled.

"Because we gave our word to Usagi," Minako explained, trying to keep her tone patient.

"Thank you, Mina-chan!" squealed Usagi, rushing over to hug her friend, but the Sailor of Venus's glare was enough to draw her back. She might not be as angry as Rei or Makoto, but she was still smarting over the Zoicite incident.

Aloud, she asked, "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Ami breathed out.

"Let's do this," Makoto growled.

"Jadeite!"

"Nephrite!"

"Zoicite!"

"Kunzite!"

A shimmering mist hovered over the stones, and then the four Shitennou stood, in all their battle glory. What happened after was something Usagi didn't expect.

"You jerks!" shrieked Rei, throwing one fireball after another at Jadeite and Nephrite.

"How dare you insult Nephy?" Makoto yelled, chasing after Kunzite, the tips of her fingers buzzing with electricity. The leader of the Shitennou, in his haste, tripped, with Minako clutching at his arm, screaming her head off at the meanness of Zoicite, who was trying his best to fend off Ami, who, in a very un-Ami like manner, was trying to tackle him to smother him with hugs. In a move worthy of Ami, she decided to freeze the floor, causing everyone to start slipping and sliding. Not looking at where she crawling, Ami got under Nephrite's feet, who promptly prompted and had even more of his hair singed. Screaming like a little girl, he tried to hide behind Makoto, who promptly hurled him at Kunzite, who yelled and accidentally elbowed Rei, who accidentally set fire to one of the chairs as she aimed for the squealing Jadeite. Thankfully, some of Ami's senses came back, and she quickly put the flame out, but not without jumping on Zoicite first and squeezing him tightly. Zoicite's color immediately began turning purple because of oxygen deprivation. He was saved from death by choking by the most unexpected person.

"Usako? Are you home? The weather's crazy outside! I think Makoto's gone crazy again..."

Eight pairs of eyes immediately turned to Usagi, who gulped. "Mamo-chan... Hehehe. I thought you're supposed to be home tomorrow?"

"I know, but the conference ended early. Something about a freak storm coming and..." Sound of footsteps. Usagi's eyes began to widen in panic. "Why is it so cold here? Did you turn on the heater? I think..." Whatever Mamoru was thinking, he didn't get to say. Instead, his eyes bugged out at the sight: Ami, who had her arms around Zoicite, who wasn't purple anymore but seemed afraid of what the blue-haired girl would do to him. Minako, clutching Kunzite's arm like crazy, while trying to shove off Makoto who was trying with all her might to calm down the sparks floating above her hand while muttering "I am not crazy, I am not crazy", glaring at both Kunzite and Mamoru, while Nephrite tried to cower behind her. Jadeite was on the floor squealing while Rei looked like she was trying to tug his leg off, her face still red with fury. The ice-covered floor, the smell of burning hair, and the smoking chair didn't help matters.

"Usako, what the heck have you been doing while I was away?"


	7. Chapter 7

Mamoru sighed as he stared at the people in front of him. Some stared at him belligerently, others with shame, and still others with outright fear. His eyes landed on the Senshi, Rei and Makoto were buffing their nails, looking unconcerned. Ami was holding her face in her hands, embarrassed to have been caught with her arms around Zoicite. Minako alternated between glaring at them and trying to fix her clothes as she fixed her position on the sofa. Mamoru then allowed himself to look at his Shitennou, and he winced at the sight. Nephrite's beautiful hair has effectively been burned, Jadeite was sporting a black eye and other various bruises, Zoicite with his coat shredded to bits, and Kunzite had his usually perfect hair mussed and a perfect shoeprint Nephrite's size on his uniform. His glance slid to his wife, who was twiddling her thumbs and looking everywhere at him.

"Usako?"

Twiddle. Twiddle.

"Usako?"

Twiddle. Twiddle. Twiddle.

"Usako!"

"What? I can hear you perfectly fine! I'm not deaf, you know!"

Fighting the urge to slap his forehead, he looked at Usagi. "You still haven't explained to me what happened, _honey,_" putting emphasis on the last word, his teeth gritted.

"Er... Hehe... Funny story that..."

"I'm listening."

Usagi peered hopefully at her senshi, asking for silent help from the women who have pledged their lives to protect her. Rei and Makoto looked back as though they wanted to be the ones to kill her, Minako was studiously analyzing the icy floor, and even quiet Ami was looking anywhere but to her princess. Usagi sighed. Too much hope to ask for them to defend her from her husband. "Well... You see, I thought of giving the girls a chance at happiness, so what I did was I took the stones to give it to them, only I mixed up the stones so the girls ended up getting the wrong Shitennou, so they went here to talk to the right guys, only things didn't turn out that way because Rei tried to kill Nephrite and Jadeite, Makoto tried to electrocute Kunzite, Minako was being bullied by Zoicite while Ami tried to choke him and..."

Mamoru's eyes widened. He wasn't sure which astonished him more, the flow of events or the fact that he understood every word that Usagi said, never mind if she was babbling 70 words per second. "What?"

"Oh, I said that I thought of giving the girls a chance at happiness, so what I did was I took the stones to give it to them, only I mixed up the stones so the girls ended up getting the wrong Shitennou, so..."

"I heard what you said, only why?"

"Well, the girls have been unhappy," ("_We are, too!_") "And it didn't seem fair because you and I are so happy and they're not, so I thought of making things better for them."

"And you didn't tell me of your plan _why_?"

"Well, I thought for sure you wouldn't agree to it, and that's why I sneaked the stones out."

"And you thought I wouldn't notice that you took the stones even if I saw my former guardians walking around again?"

"Oh, well... Heh. I didn't think of that."

At this, Mamoru really did slap his forehead. "Usako, what am I going to with you?" He asked, shaking his head.

"You could hand her over to us," Rei muttered, as Makoto cracked her knuckles.

"Um, no, never mind," Mamoru said quickly, catching the puppy dog eyes his wife was giving him. "Look, I just need to talk to her for a while. Would you mind stepping out?" He requested, gesturing towards the door. The senshis' eyes narrowed.

"Please?" This time, it was Usagi who asked the question, even as she looked in fear at her husband.

The senshi and Shitennou looked at each other and immediately turned away. They might have the occasional impulse to kill their lieges, but they couldn't very well disobey them. "Fine."

"Oh, spend time with each other, 'kay?" Usagi added, her voice a little more cheerful.

The Senshi rolled their eyes. They knew Usagi knew about their inability to disobey her, and they also very well knew which "other" she was referring to. "Fine."

"And don't kill each other!"

The Senshi looked at each other, and then at the Shitennou, who instinctively quailed. "Drat."


	8. Chapter 8

Epilogue: Makoto and Nephrite

"Let me at him! Let me at him!"

Nephrite tugged at Makoto, which was no small effort, given that Makoto was at least five times as strong as a normal human and was still struggling to get to Kunzite. It was only after they were a block away that the senshi of Jupiter finally managed to calm down.

"So... Are you ever going to tell me what Kunzite has done?"

"He was insulting you! The nerve of him! He's a jerk and he's..." Makoto started to fume again, steam coming out of her nose and ears.

"Ok, calm down! I was just asking!" Nephrite rubbed Makoto's back until she managed to take deep calming breaths. At last, she lifted her head and looked at him in his eyes. "Neph, do you really think I'm crazy?"

"Of course not, honey."

"You sure?" Makoto gave him a suspicious look.

Now, Nephrite was not stupid. In fact, he prided himself as one of the smartest in the Shitennou, next to Zoicite. He knew very well how to answer that question, especially if the one asking it has her hair all over the place, her eyes wide with suppressed rage, and sparks still popping from her fingers. "You're the sanest person I've met," he said, running his hand through his now-short hair. _Mars, did you really have to do a number on my_ hair?

Makoto's eyes noticed. "You're running your hands through your hair."

"Yes, I am. Why?" Nephrite asked cautiously, his mind only half on the conversation, still stroking his poor, poor hair.

"That's always a sign."

"A sign of what?"

"You're lying to me, aren't you? Admit it! You think I'm crazy too!" Makoto snarled.

Nephrite's eyes widened, and he immediately removed his hand from his hair and shoved it behind him. "Now, Makoto dear..."

"Don't dear me! It says in all those magazines that if a guy runs his hand through his hair, he's definitely lying!" Makoto was starting to puff up like a bullfrog again, her eyes wide with indignation.

"What?" Nephrite yelped. "You believe a magazine over _me_?"

"I'll have you know that that magazine has thousands of subscribers!"

"You're crazy!"

"Aha! So you admit it! You _do_ think I'm crazy!"

"Yes! I mean, no! I mean... Ack!"

"That's not half of what you deserve! You come back to me after how many years and the first thing that you tell me is that I'm crazy? How could you?"

Nephrite sighed. He might be one of the smartest Shitennou, but he doubted that even the brainiest of guys could understand women. He hoped his brothers weren't having problems the same as he was.


	9. Chapter 9

Epilogue: Ami and Zoicite

"Zoi-kuuuun!" Ami squealed as she clutched at Zoisite's arm, practically dragging him from the Chiba household.

"Ami-chan..." Zoicite said warningly, trying to disentangle himself from the craziness that is Ami Mizuno.

"Heeh! You called me 'Ami-chan'! Zoisite-chaaan!"

"Ami..."

"Not Ami-chan?" Ami pouted, her eyes immediately welling up.

"No... No... That's not what I meant, Ami-chan!"

"It is so! If not, you wouldn't be trying to run away from me!"

"What?" Zoicite immediately stopped trying to detach his arm from Ami. The legendary coolness that he used when talking with Minako was gone, if the hand he was running through his hair was any indication. "I'm not trying to run away from you! It's just..."

"It's just what?"

"Well... You're freaking me out!" Zoicite burst out. "You're being clutchy and forceful and scary and you've tried to strangle me! The next thing I know, you'll try to drown me or freeze me or..."

Ami burst out into tears. "You don't love me anymore!" wailed Ami. "Jadeite-sama was wrong!"

"Of course I love you! I... Wait, what does Jadeite have anything to do with this?"

Ami bawled harder. "You're more interested in what Jadeite said than about me? You really don't love me anymore!" and so saying, she ran away.

"_Women!_" Zoicite muttered, throwing his hands in the air. Jadeite's name popped in his head again. He'll have to get his brother Shitennou. That is, if the Senshi of Fire hadn't gotten to him first. He almost wished she did.


	10. Chapter 10

"Rei?"

"Rei-chan?"

"Rei honey?"

"Firefly?"

"..."

"Ow! What was that for?" Rei screamed angrily.

"Well, you weren't talking!" Jadeite said defensively. Truth of the matter was, he wasn't used to a silent Rei. A screaming Rei, he was used to. A fire-hurling Rei he had encountered (and way too many times, in his mind). A silent one, though, scared him out of his wits. But he wasn't about to admit that, not even at his deathbed.

"What am I supposed to say?" Rei asked. For a senshi of fire, her tone was ice-cold.

"Well..."

Rei made her voice sickeningly sweet, gazing in awe at the Shitennou. "Oh, my beloved Jadeite, you finally came back to me after all these years! I missed you so!" she said, fluttering her eyelashes.

"Yeah, that could work," Jadeite said smugly. "I... Ow!"

"Jerk! Did you really think I meant that?"

Unlike most men, the sight of a furious Rei got him grinning. After all these years, he still knew how to get under her skin. "Well, you did say it," he said lazily.

"Hello? Sarcasm?"

"Hah! The Rei I knew back in the Silver Millennium never knew how to lie, and I don't think she's changed after all these years!" Jadeite countered, and was rewarded when Rei turned the color of her Sailor Mars fuku. "Hah!" He exclaimed again, pointing at her in triumph.

"Will you shut up?" Rei hissed, trying to drag his hand down to his side.

"I knew you couldn't get your hands off me," Jadeite said smugly, wrapping said arm around her shoulders.

"Get off, you big lummox!" Rei shrieked, squirming out of his grasp.

"Hey, I resent that," Jadeite said, grinning, sounding anything but resentful.

"You, you, you... oaf!" Rei screamed, pummeling him with her fists.

If it was even possible, Jadeite laughed even harder, and as a result, ended up having more blows hit him instead of blocking them. A strong left hook got him down, gasping as he tried to catch his breath. Immediately, Rei went down to her knees. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly, neatly forgetting that she was the one who brought him down in the first place. It took her a few seconds to realize that the shaking of his shoulders were not of pain, but of laughter. "Jerk!" she shrieked again, whacking Jadeite on the head. Instead of getting mad, he immediately put his arms around her.

"Leggo!"

"Ah, dear firefly, I missed you too," Jadeite said through his laughter, burying his face in her hair.

"Who said anything about missing you?" she asked, but she didn't make any attempts to pull away.

"Like I said a while ago, you're a pretty bad liar, Rei," he said, pulling back just a little to grin at her. "Now, what's gotten you pissed now?"

"Come on, Rei, not the silent treatment again," Jadeite wheedled. "It must've been something bad, or you wouldn't lose your temper just like that."

"I don't have a temper!"

"Erm..."

Rei raised a fist threateningly.

"Okay, okay, you don't have a temper!" Jadeite said hastily, lifting his hands in defense. "Now, what got you upset?"

"Did you really tell the other Shitennou about the tree?" Rei asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Eh? What tree?" Jadeite asked, blinking confusedly. Out of all the things he expected her to ask, a question about a plant was the furthest from his mind.

"You know, the tree!" Rei said, her voice rising slightly. "The one where I..." and Rei turned red again.

"Oh, yeah, the one where you tripped and fell flat on your face!" Jadeite blurted out, and then bit his tongue when he saw Rei's face.

"Did you tell Nephrite about that?" Rei asked, pronouncing each word slowly and clearly.

"Weeeell..."

"Answer me, Jadeite!"

"I might have?" Jadeite said timidly.

"Argh! What else have you been telling him? I swear, you are the most insufferable male in this world. I ought to..." As the sound of her voice drifted off, another voice accompanied it, and it sounded suspiciously like, "Sorry, dear. Yes, dear. Anything you say, dear."


	11. Chapter 11

Epilogue: Minako and Kunzite

"Kunzi-chaaan..."

Kunzite winced and turned around quickly, and then breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no one was around to hear the nickname. He would lose what little respect left that the other Shitennou had for him, leader or no leader. Shuddering inwardly at the thought of Jadeite falsely batting his eyelashes at him while cooing the dratted name, he forced a smile on his face. "Yes, Mina?"

"What did you say to Mako that got her so angry?"

Kunzite muttered something under his breath, and Minako only caught a few words, but those few sounded like, "Kitchen... That Idiot Nephrite... Amazon... Crazy... Battery... Arm wrestling."

"Arm wrestling?"

"Nothing," Kunzite said quickly. If there was one person he didn't want his masculinity mocked over the Shitennou, it was Minako. Irrationally, he felt a twinge of resentment toward Minako. Why didn't _she_ have a problem with _her_ senshi? For that matter, why did the Shitennou automatically obey _her_ instead of him, who was _supposed_ to be the leader next to Endymion?

"So what's going on?"

Kunzite gave her an incredulous look. "Nothing."

Minako giggled. "Still talkative, I see." Her teasing was rewarded by the dull pink that rose on Kunzite's cheeks. "You still blush!" she crowed. "I can't believe that you, Kunzite, King of the Middle East, and fearsome leader of the Shitennou, still blushes!"

_Ugh!_ If possible, said King of the Middle East and fearsome leader of the Shitennou turned even redder. "So what did you have against Zoicite anyway?" He asked quickly.

"Oh, _him._" Minako gave a loud sniff to show what she thought of the blond Shitennou. "Well, he was being _mean._ It's not like I did anything bad to him or anything..." Kunzite directed an arched eyebrow at her. "Well, not anything _deliberate._ Well, it was just... Well, he was being annoying! Almost as though he was _possessive_ of you or something, which is ridiculous, of course, but..."

Kunzite's color, which had slowly began turning back to normal, turned purple at what she said. "Yes, that is ridiculous!" He managed to squeak out. Goodness alone knew how much he wanted to scrape off the memories of the weirdness his Dark Kingdom days with Zoicite were. _Not going there! Not going there! _

Minako looked at him concernedly. "Is there something wrong_?_ You've been acting weird." Minako asked, peering at him, and saw a strange facial expression: his eyes scrunched up, while his lips muttered soundlessly.

"I'm fine, really, just plain old normal me," Kunzite squeaked again, his voice extremely high-pitched, definitely not normal. His skin color now turned pale, almost as light as his hair color.

"If you say so," Minako said doubtfully. Whatever Kunzite was hiding, she was determined to squeeze it out of him… Maybe he was sick! If he is, well... Minako brightened at the thought of nursing him back to health. The girls did say she was getting better at it. Why, she only managed to burn one out of the four tongues with her porridge, and she managed to not strangle them with their blankets when they got sick again!

xxx

Usagi and Mamoru peered from the second-floor window at the four couples that left their homes. "See, Mamo-chan? I told you it would work out," Usagi sighed, her voice dreamy.

Mamoru stared incredulously at his wife. From what he saw, Jadeite was having his head clobbered by Rei, Ami was still trying to wrench off Zoicite's arm, Minako was squealing in Kunzite's ear, and Makoto... He shook his head. Poor Nephrite. "I don't know..."

"Oh, but they're perfect for each other!" Usagi insisted, clutching at Mamoru's arm. "They might disagree now, but they'll eventually see the bright side of it. I knew stealing those stones would be a good idea!"

"Hmn. About that... Usako, care to explain to me again why you did that?"

"Oh, um..."

"And while we're on the subject, why did you manage to mix up the stones?"

"Er. Heh..."

"And why is our floor covered in _ice_ and some of our furniture burning?"

"Well?"

"I love you, Mamo-chan!"

Mamoru sighed, and shook his head in defeat. "I love you too, Usako."


End file.
